Newby With Questions But Am I Allowed To Ask?

V

voyager1836

Member
My Satellite Setup
Pansat SM250 receiver
My Location
Staffordshire
Hi, I joined this forum in the hope that its members may be able to help me whether the satellite equipment fitted to our motor home and what I have bought is usable in the UK & Europe.

When it come to satellite equipment & jargon I am a complete novice so if I'm asking about equipment that is not allowed can I apologise now only I have just read the following :confused: whatever it means. NO KEYS, BIN FILES, OR HEX FILES TO BE POSTED, NO CABLE TALK, NO BELL, DISH NETWORK North America or DirecTV TALK...

May I explain what equipment I've got then I hope YOU EXPERTS can tell me whether to keep or junk some or all of it ?

Between Oct 2007 and Aug 2009 the wife and I toured the US & Canada in an American RV which we have shipped back to the UK.

The RV came fitted with a roof mounted KVH Trac Vision LF/SF dome satellite dish.

Despite the above we watched TV via the roof Winegard antenna first as analogue and later still via the Winegard but through a digi box after America & Canada went digital.

Whilst in Canada we met chap who was a real satellite enthusiast :-worship, his satellite receiver was a Pansat SM 250.

I asked, "Would that box work in the UK & Europe?" and he said he believed it would.

Since returning to the UK I contacted a couple of dealers near to Staffordshire with regard to converting the KVH Trac Vision dish to UK spec, both informed me it would cost parts and labour £1,000 + :eek:

Since then I bought a black mesh Sky dish & tripod and via the Pansat SM250 receiver managed to receive a small number of channels.

Is there any member on this forum that can advise me if the KVH Trac Vision and Pansat SM250 are worth bothering with?

I am looking for a set-up that will work both in the UK & Europe.

Thanks

Mick
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Well, the specification of the receiver is here

_http://www.satmaximum.com/pansat_ps250sm.php

and it looks like the average FTA receiver with an embedded card slot, so not a lot will open for free, except the free stuff. The downside is the output, which is NTSC, so the chances are the broadcasts you get in Europe will either come out with the wrong aspect ratio, or you won't see much on a PAL TV.

The dish is worth keeping as it obviously works with the PS250, and you could probably kit the RV out with any FTA receiver that drives the dish via the cable with DiSEqC 1.2 commands.
 
Channel Hopper,

Thanks for your reply, according to the Pansat's instruction book it will operate in either PAL or NTSC so does that make much difference?

Mick
 
The KVH being for the North American market is almost certainly not suitable for use in Europe as it stands and would need converting as well. In North America the satellite transmission are in a different format (circular polarisation) compared to European format (linear polarisation) and at least the internal lnb would need converting as well as possibly a fair amount of the control circuitry and as the market over here for such systems is still very small conversion is going to be probably quite expensive. You would probably have been better off selling the complete system before leaving North America and having a European spec one fitted over here.
 
Davemurgtroyd,

I knew from others who had shipped American motor homes fitted with a KVH dome that they could be converted to UK spec, but regarding the Pansat 250SM I was completely relying on what my Canadian satellite enthusiast had told me in that he thought it WOULD work in the UK, unfortunately (unless someone on here know different) there does not appear to be any agent, company or dealer who deal in Pansat equipment which is a little strange.

Mick
 
voyager1836 said:
but regarding the Pansat 250SM I was completely relying on what my Canadian satellite enthusiast had told me in that he thought it WOULD work in the UK, unfortunately (unless someone on here know different) there does not appear to be any agent, company or dealer who deal in Pansat equipment which is a little strange.Mick
Click to expand...

Not really surprising, as it's sold for the American market. There's no reason why it can't be used here though for FTA channels directed to Europe. Presumably you're using S-Video or Phono sockets for outputting to your TV.
 
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